Marked for Andrei Deac
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
So close: Luka Zahovič’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Djurgarden moved on, Luka Zahovič reports back to CFR Cluj, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Viitorul come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and CFR Cluj did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Andrei Deac joins from Pandurii in a deal worth $770.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to CFR Cluj's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at CFR Cluj has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Karlo Muhar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 Aug 2026
38 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Pandurii
A 1‑0 win over Voluntari, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match19 Aug 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Pandurii scored in the 123th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market24 Aug 2026
Pandurii say no — this time
The offer from Viitorul for George Nita was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $770.0K sale of Andrei Deac
He is going to CFR Cluj, the club has $770.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ciprian Coman hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pandurii can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Cosmin Marin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market24 Aug 2026
CFR Cluj pay $770.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Stefan Nedelcearu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Andrei Deac has come up in conversations Pandurii were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Cosmin Marin in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Razvan Tanase
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Pandurii, 1‑0 the final word against Voluntari in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefan Nedelcearu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.63 on the card, and the Pandurii support went home talking about one name.
Market17 Aug 2026
Omonoia are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Pandurii will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cosmin Marin and Pandurii agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Cosmin Marin in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pandurii this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Pandurii training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Razvan Tanase is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrei Man, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Universitatea Craiova left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Pandurii say no — this time
The offer from MTK Budapest for Sergiu Mitrita was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Cosmin Marin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Adrian Marin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Roberto Moretti
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Nicusor Puscas has come up in conversations Pandurii were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Cosmin Marin knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cosmin Marin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
Ciprian Coman is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pandurii has been clear about where Ciprian Coman stands, which is more than many ever get.